"You could see the silhouette outline of his body in the car having a seizure."
Mrs Guthrie quickly pulled into a driveway to get away from the power pole which was tilted on a precarious angle and looked like it was about to fall over.
"It was pretty scary," she said.
The man was wearing a chef's uniform and told people he had epilepsy, she said.
Police, St John and fire fighters were called to the crash and set up a road block between Concord Ave and Girven Rd while the cars were cleared and the power lines fixed.
Acting Sergeant Logan Dingle said a red Honda had been travelling along the road heading towards Bayfair when the driver had a medical episode and lost control.
His car crashed into the back of a parked Subaru before slamming into the power pole. The impact also bowed and cracked the next power pole along.
Power to a large section of the road was cut off while technicians worked to fix the power poles.
The driver was not injured but was taken to Tauranga Hospital for treatment for his medical condition.